Tell me about your perfect Utility Room!

[kali43]

Remodelling and on first draft ours will be approx 2 x 3m. What should we have in it to get the best out of it - especially given we live in a wet and windy Wales!

The best thing about my utility (in the garage) is two washing machines!

I have a laundry room with washing machine, tumble drier, cupboards for light bulbs, shoe cleaning stuff, Hoover bags etc and a big sink.
But the best bit is a small cupboard with a rail where all the ironing can go for the DCs to collect, and space for the ironing board to stay up. And a radio.

Mine is 10 feet by 12 feet .
It's very warm, and has outside door to side entrance and garden
Separate washer and dryer, sink, draining board, lots of cupboards.
One wall is shelving for shoes/ lightbulbs/ bits and bobs. Big airer in there.
Most useful room in the house.

Washing machine raised up on drawer so you can get a bucket under if you need to drain it (this seems to happen to me a lot, everyone else looks blank when I explain).

Heated drying cupboard - brilliant for stuff that can't be tumbled.

Lights operated by motion sensors so you don't need free hands to turn them on/off.

I like ours. Washing machine and dryer next to each other, sink and under sink cupboard next to dryer. Wall mounted cupboards above all that. Work surface and draining board on top of washing machine and dryer. I keep medicines, shoe polishes, cleaning and washing products in there plus clean laundry.

Space to iron.

Space for Hoover, ironing board, mop, sweeping brush etc.

Wellies X 4 pairs upturned on a stand.

Door to back garden.

Oooooooo I have washing machine with drier on top..... A sink, cupboards - all new!! ..... Gonna order an Etsy sign which say 'wash, dry, fold, repeat' ....... Have a look at Pinterest for ideas

When we were househunting for where we are now, it was on my list of essentials, and I'm so glad we opted for one. It's such a useful hardworking space. Ours contains a washer/dryer, the boiler, the bin, the recycling bin, a veg rack, the mop bucket, all the assorted dog paraphernalia (food, leads, drugs etc - we have four so there's loads of tack), space for things like candles, lightbulbs, shoe cleaning stuff, plus spare jars/bottles for when we are making jam/marmalade/chutney/sloe gin. We painted it just before Xmas so DH's next job is to put up a couple of shelves in there. I love the fact that the washing is separated from the kitchen (much quieter), it's so handy having the extra sink for soaking stuff etc, and it helps keep the kitchen much less cluttered. If I could have a magic wand, I'd have a separate mud room for our outdoor coats, dog walking shoes and boots, dog coats and leads and a low level dog shower etc. I occasionally dribble over these on Pinterest.

We have
a washer,
a dryer,
large chest freezer,
sink,
two double cupboards on the wall,
one double cupboard under the sink
And an unusual style terracotta wine rack and beer fridge.
It's perfect for us but the wine rack is never full for long

Half is wash room, with washing machine and tumble drier. They are on a very strong structure which raises them about a foot and a half off the floor so I don't have to bend or struggle using them. There's a big Belfast sink to be plumbed in, and a large board to go up for folding and sorting on. I am not convinced that either of these things will ever happen.

The other half is supposed to be a kind of potting shed, but so far not much is going on there.

Despite two fairly large radiators in there, the room is really really cold for much of the year and is unusable (except for rushing in, getting washing on etc) in the winter. Not sure what to do about that, tbh, so the vision I have of lots of seedlings growing happily is probably a castle in the air.

Dh has a beer fridge - essential he'd say, but we can keep the dog's meat in there. We have a plumbing hub - boiler, tank, underfloor heating manifolds & water softener. Washer and dryer. Spare freezer for dog food mostly. Storage for all household/cleaning items. Boot sink.

Oh and a shield maid which I love!

And I wanted storage for wellies and coats but we just didn't have room.

Obviously washing machine and tumble dryer.
Second sink is so useful.
Plenty of workspace to fold/sort laundry helpful.
Wall cupboards to store cleaning products out of reach of little ones (if applicable)
Either a ceiling airer or floor space for a normal airer.
Space to store hoover, mop and bucket, ironing board, washing baskets etc.
Recycling bins.
Small washing basket for tea towels etc
My friend has a rail to hang shirts on to dry/once ironed but not many people I know have enough space for that!
Space to put the ironing board up.
We also stored muddy boots, fleeces and cycle helmets in ours but we didn't have a garage.
Could have extra freezer (and/or fridge) depending on space and need?

We were going to fit an extractor with a humidity sensor but moved so never got round to it.

I have no room for a utility but a well stocked Pinterest board awaiting a day I get one.

Mine would have:-
*eye level washing machine and dryer on top of cupboards (obviously strongly reinforced for the weight)
*pull out "folding shelf" under the dryer to fold as I remove stuff
*couple of baskets on rails that can be pulled out and taken to rooms for putting away
*some nice big jars for detergent etc
*a small pull out ironing board for little things and a free standing high ironing board for bigger stuff
*a small tv on the wall (for ironing sessions)
*a door to a porch for coats and boots
*laundry baskets for whites darks etc
*a tall cupboard for.mop, bucket, broom etc.

wow thanks all. Appreciate the feedback. I also have a Pinterest Board but all the rooms i seem to pin a twice the size of the space we have! Architect coming tonight with our remodel plans and i am stupidly excited to see what he has proposed for the utility room!

Mine is ginormous because I live in a former care home but the best aspects are: cubby holes for sorting laundry into, and a door at each end which you can leave open and get a breeze through to dry without using the tumbledryer.

Ironing board permanently set up. My futility is tiny so we have a small wall-mounted ironing board that folds down against the wall and a wall-mounted iron-holder with the socket right beside.

Place for wall-mounted cordless vac to be stored (for little run around and pick up the bits cleaning jobs)

Plumbed in condenser dryer so no need to empty the water out.

Stacked washer dryer - so nice to not bend when sorting out the tumbler!

Extractor fan to leave on when washing is drying in there so doesn't get too damp and stuffy (esp. true in internal room or if in use when out of the house so windows can't be open)

Somewhere to store the laundry basket when not in use

Shelves/cupboards to keep bulk buys eg: 3 for 2 washing up liquid, large washing powder, half price dishwasher tablets

wall mounted drying rack at ceiling height

Sink with squirty hose tap for ease of filling buckets and washing poo off kids clothes

My futility is tiny (less than 2m by 2m) so we cram a lot in! Boiler and sink also in there.

I'm glad people have mentioned the TV, as I was going to. We are about to build one - mainly to store dogs in! But, good to know that people like them and may be prepared to pay more on a house for one!

We also put in a shower for the humans for those times you come in filthy and don't want to drag it all upstairs to the bathroom.

Ours is long and quite narrow but works really well. It has a run of shallow cupboards with work surface and sink, and shallow wall cupboards above that. A run of coat hooks is on the opposite wall. At the far end there is open shelving that I keep spare blankets on (they are zipped into dust covers) and space for the ironing board, mop, broom etc. There is also enough floor space there for me to use my beloved Lakeland heated airer for things I can't tumble dry. Dryer is stacked on top of washing machine with a separator thing between them that has a pull-out shelf. DH bought it and I thought it was a bit gimicky but it is very useful when folding stuff straight from the dryer. One thing that I love about my utility room is that it is not a traffic zone into the garden. In my last house my utility room was tiny and I hated fighting my way through the baskets of laundry, and everything else that got dumped in there, to get outside.

Reading with envy .... I REALLY want a utility room ....

Our is just about 2.5 x 1.8m. It holds washing machine and dishwasher, with tumbledryer above. Sink and drainer with cupboard under, holding useful stuff junk, and there's a bottle rack in a cubby hole next to it. Hanging off the curtain rail, there's a series of S-hooks which hold all sorts of stuff too big or too infrequently used to merit space in the kitchen. Junk also gathers on the window sill (mostly dog shampoo/gardening/pot plant related). No room for boots but we have a porch for them and to dry really dripping things. It could be better planned but two doors, to kitchen and outdoors (washing line and bins), and a window prevent us from cramming any more in.

It desperately needs painting but moving everything out would be an uphill slog. Maybe in summer....

My utility room is about 10' square with an L shape worktop with cupboards above and below, it houses the washing machine and dishwasher, the boiler. Nice deep sink, ironing board and airer stand beside the end of the L.

Its also where the stopcock is and the electricity trip switches are.

It's nice to be able to shut the door when the washing machine is going!

The tumbler drier is in the garage - not that we use it much.

Our utility room is the reason the house is generally tidy. Must haves are:

*washing machine - lovely to be able to close the door & not hear it going.
*Laundry basket & ironing basket
*sink - essential for washing muddy football boots, soaking pans etc
*boiler
*space for ironing board, iron, hoover, brush etc
*tool box with screwdrivers, fuses, bulbs etc
*filing cabinet - no paperwork, bills, school letters etc are left lying about the kitchen. They go straight in the cabinet so I always know where everything is.
*printer for the computer sits on top of the filing cabinet

room measures 1.2m x 2.5m

We have a really big utility room - about 3 x 5m. It has a washing machine, tumble drier, big Belfast sink, a ceiling clothes line and an extra freezer.

Fab you'd think. Unfortunately it's also a dumping ground for lots of random shite! It has some really ancient cupboards and counter. This thread is motivating me to coerce DH into helping me rip the whole lot out and get some nice new cupboards, so we actually use it for proper storage, not just junk storage.